A very quiet month in the garden. Lots of rain although not as much as the record-breaking flooding in the south of England ! This is going to damage a large number of nature reserves in Somerset at Devon and other areas afflicted by the flooding.<\/p>\n
On the 2nd of February We went, again, to Parkgate<\/a> for a high tide and again we had good views of Merlin, Short-eared Owls, Peregrine Falcon, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first birding group outing of the month was to RSPB Conwy<\/a> where we had good views of Red Breasted Merganser and Scaup. We had planned on going to Llanddulas after Conwy but I suggested a change and that we should go to Pensarn<\/a> instead, mainly because of the elevated view you get over the water. We were not disappointed on the sea-watching front as we good views of Red-throated Divers and rather more distant views of a very large number of Common Scoter. A special highlight was the spotting of at least one Surf Scoter amongst them which was a life tick for me and, indeed, for most of the group.<\/p>\n We missed the next birding group outing but they did see Lesser-spotted Woodpecker.<\/p>\n On the 18th February the group went to Marbury Park<\/a> on a lovely sunny day with birds singing loudly including many Song Thrushes. We got views of a Kingfisher from the reedbed hide and we also saw a good variety of the usual birds but in good numbers and all starting to look rather smart.<\/p>\n